jim henson

The songs in the links posted below are from an old 45 of quirky but charming music originally heard as part of 'The Love Song of Barney Kempinski', a one-hour teleplay that aired on September 14th, 1966 as the premiere episode of an anthology TV series, ABC Stage 67.

For his performance in the title role, actor
Alan Arkin received an Emmy award nomination. (- - And has the program been seen since??)

- From the synopsis posted at TV.Com:
"Barney Kempinski, thirtyish and contentedly
self-unemployed, leaves his Lower East Side apartment smiling and happy.
"On this fine sunny day he is to be married - -
3 o'clock at City Hall - - to his girl Francine.
"In the few remaining hours of his bachelorhood, Barney goes off to tour the city and sing his love song - - exuberant, irresponsible and frequently dangerous - - to life, love and the city of
New York."

The photo at right, ▶
taken during production for 'Barney Kempinski' comes from a profile article on Arkin,
"Actor's Jump To The Top", that appeared in the July 22nd, 1966 issue of LIFE magazine.
- Click here to read that article.

Also appearing in the cast were John Gielgud,
Alan King, Lee Grant and Arlene Golonka.

(An item of note for those of who've never had the pleasure of seeing this production is that there's no listing of anyone in the cast playing the role of Barney's fiancé, Francine. Presumably the character doesn't appear in the story - - ?)


- Listen to:
Alan Arkin - I Like You
(Columbia Records 45, 1966)
(click for audio)


- Listen to:
Alan Arkin - Barney's Love Song
(Columbia Records 45, 1966)
(click for audio)


- Anyone who recalls having seen this program or has more information to share is invited to leave a comment. Better yet, if you know where / how to view 'The Love Song of Barney Kempinski' nowadays, it'd be great to hear from you. It might be fun and worth a pilgrimage to The Paley Center for Media someday to try and track it down in their archives, but in an ideal world it shouldn't have to come to that. (Don't get me started on my rant about how the history of television shouldn't be slipping into the realm of archaeology...)

Looking over highlights of Alan Arkin's career, the chronology of 'The Love Song of Barney Kempinski' falls in between Arkin's breakout film appearance in 'The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming' which had premiered just a few months earlier, and his villainous turn the following year opposite Audrey Hepburn in the thriller, 'Wait Until Dark'.

◀ At left; from the LIFE article, Arkin on set with
'Barney Kempinski' author Murray Schisgal.

Beginning in 1964, Arkin had appeared on Broadway in the original run of Schisgal's play, 'Luv', directed by Mike Nichols.

Nichols would direct Arkin again in the 1970 film, 'Catch-22'.

Both also shared roots to improvisational cabaret theater in Chicago; Alan Arkin with The Second City, and Mike Nichols to its precursor, The Compass Players.







Arkin's musical roots go back still further; at least as far as a folk-singing record, 'Once Over Lightly', released on the Elektra label in 1955. ▶

That release would lead him to the ranks of several folk groups before joining Second City, including
The Tarriers, Jeremy's Friends, and The Babysitters.

- Many of those early folk recordings can be heard at an Alan Arkin fansite (follow link), though you may want to beware of possible sporadic 'malware' warnings popping up...

(Please Note: In preparing this post, I was initially excited to have figured out the origins for 'I Like You', a song I'd heard years ago but had never known the story behind. While gathering information, further excitement arose upon finding not only a superior recording to the one I had, but the B-side of the record as well. Credit and many thanks for that goes to (like a) Fish Out Of Water, a wonderful blog of celebrity recordings. This post expands upon that one.)

"Where the Arkin is. On Columbia Records" - - Below, ▼ a print ad promoting the 45 and the TV program appeared in the September 17th, 1966 issue of Billboard Magazine.

Follow link to read an article that ran last week in SF Gate:

"I Love Ethel - A Vivian Vance Archive Uncovered"

The photos posted here are taken from the large online gallery linked to the article.

Writer Bob Bragman's column, The Collective Mind is a regular feature geared to
Bay Area antique hunters and anyone who enjoys a good find.

In this installment, Bragman tells an interesting and circuitous tale of an antique dealer friend's connection to
New York publisher John Dodds, the husband of actress Vivian Vance, and of various items from the Vance/Dodds estate that were passed along after Dodds' death in 1986.

Furniture, artwork, and a scrapbook filled with clippings and personal photographs taken from various points in Vance's life and career - - all steeped in showbiz history.

Also included (and excerpted) is the manuscript for Viv's unpublished autobiography, including tales of troubled portions of her life and rumors about the nature of her relationship with co-star Lucille Ball.

Fascinating and well worth a look. Check it out!

(Big thanks to Joe Sixpack for the link)

Upon the recent news of his death at age 91, a moment please to celebrate the life and career of character actor and voice artist Arnold Stang.

A small round-up of links from the web:

- A New York Times obituary.

- A wonderful, rambling profile posted in 2007 at WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

- A remembrance, showbiz anecdotes and an old 'Herman and Katnip' cartoon at
Mark Evanier's News From Me.

- Click over to Flickr for
LORAC!'s Arnold Stang photoset.
Publicity shots, advertising, record covers, etc. A great collection.

- Mr. Stang's screen credits listed at IMDb.

- An entry at TV Party includes a RealPlayer clip from an unsold late-'50s TV pilot for 'The Arnold Stang Show'.


- The 1960 kiddie record 'Arnold Stang's Waggish Tales' found him telling the tales of Peter and The Wolf and Ferdinand the Bull with orchestral accompaniment.

As of this writing, the LP may be heard via
Do You Speak English ?

When re-watching vintage 1960s episodes of 'The Flintstones', a heaping portion of the cozy,
comfort-food nostalgia it kindles comes from the familiar background music heard throughout the run of the series.
As with so much of the TV I was glued to in my youth, the soundtrack to the show has been part of the soundtrack to my life.

Hoyt Curtin had been Hanna-Barbera's primary composer and arranger, responsible not only for the Flintstones underscore and its immortal theme song, but for the music heard in almost all of the animation studio's many productions, from their origins in the mid-1950s until Curtin's retirement
in the '80s.

For a while, much of Curtin's H-B music was commercially available on various cartoon music CDs released by the Rhino label, but sadly and shockingly it looks like they've all lapsed out of print.

From one of those discs, the background music cues posted below all go back to the original Flintstones series.
As a finicky nerd, it had bothered me that Rhino had chosen to tack each of these brief themes onto the end of the 'primary' songs-from-the-series tracks, as sort of unlisted 'mystery bonus fun'.

- - So, for the sake of my own dork-tastic needs (and maybe even yours) I futzed with them, to bring some focus to just those Curtin instrumentals.

All of the listed titles are ones I made up, just as a referential aid for the different files, previously unnamed on the Rhino releases.

- If you have knowledge of any 'real' titles for these cuts, or have more info to share about Hoyt Curtin's cartoon music, please feel free to leave a comment on this post.

Enjoy!


(click for audio)

1. Reedy Saunter (1:22)
2. Quarry (0:30)
3. Short Chirpy Bridge (0:09)
4. Mischief March (0:23)
5. 'Oh Brother' Punchline (0:09)
6. Jaunty Stroll (0:55)
7. Harried Exit (0:11)
8. Brassy Exit Fanfare (0:10)
9. No Brakes! (1:00)
10. Bouncy Exit (0:18)
11. Driving Into Bedrock (0:41)
12. Stumbling Xylophone (0:27)
13. Morning After Pomp (0:32)
14. Walking Dino, Fred Follows (1:04)
15. Military Maneuvers (0:30)
16. Quizzical Exit Fanfare (0:07)

(click for audio)

- - OR click here to grab all 16 tracks in one 11.8 Mb zipfile.

- For a bit more of old Hanna-Barbera cartoon music by Hoyt Curtin, you might try here, or at a post about 'Jonny Quest' music at If I Only Had...

- And while listening to Flintstones music, you could do far worse than to peruse the dozens of fascinating Bedrock screen captures and other edifying wonders on display over at John K Stuff.

(A brief preamble: I was already thinking of our friend Gilligan and his blog, Retrospace, as I started preparations for this post, and that was before Gil was kind enough to bestow a Great Read Award upon ILTS this past Wednesday. The award's emblem of honor is posted towards the bottom of the lovely brown sidebar, big blushing thanks are extended to Mr. G, and this post is dedicated to him.)

This two-page article ran in the July, 1966 issue of TV Radio Mirror.

(Click on images to enlarge in a new window)

- Click here to view a super-sized image of page 1 in a new window.

- Click here to view a super-sized image of page 2 in a new window.

Actress Tina Louise and Radio & TV Talk Show Host Les Crane were married in Beverly Hills on Sunday, April 3rd, 1966.

In the early 1960s, Les Crane had hosted a late-night radio talk show in San Francisco, where he often stirred up controversy with his
left-wing liberal views and confrontational interview style.
In 1963, Crane took his show to New York City and to late-night television.

His big west coast movie career mentioned in the magazine article didn't go much beyond his supporting role in the film adaptation of Norman Mailer's
An American Dream.

By 1966, via her role as 'the movie star' on TV's Gilligan's Island,
Tina Louise had rocketed to a level of fame she'd not reached after fifteen years as a pin-up model, nightclub singer, and film & stage actress, though she was discomforted by the notion of being type-cast by her 'Ginger' portrayal.

When the sitcom was cancelled in 1967, she was quick in her attempts to distance herself from the role.

In the photo below, ▼ the newlyweds pose with Tina's co-star castaways...

...Though significant in his absence from the photo is 'The Professor', Russell Johnson.

What bit of behind-the-scenes intrigue can we infer from his not being present? Does it lend anything to the various sordid debates about the characters and cast of Gilligan's Island?

I prefer to believe that perhaps Russell Johnson was behind the camera, snapping the photograph with a camera he'd built out of a coconut shell and some beach glass.

At the time of the wedding, (Les Crane's third - - or perhaps fourth - - marriage) the tail end of the second season of Gilligan's Island was airing on Thursday nights, and presumably the cast was busy with production for the sitcom's third season episodes.

CBS then moved the show to Monday evenings, and cancelled the the series at the end of the third season.

Tina Louise had several TV and film appearances after 'getting off the island', often seeking out 'grittier' or more serious roles.

Les Crane returned to talk radio in Los Angeles in 1968.



Perhaps Crane's most often-noted achievement was his Grammy award-winning 1971 spoken-word recording of the prose poem (and popular
dorm-room poster) 'Desiderata'.

- Follow the link to
Richie Unterberger's liner notes to a re-release of the Les Crane LP that included his 'one-hit wonder' Top-10 single.

Tina Louise and Les Crane were divorced in 1974, the same year their daughter, Caprice Crane was born.
Not bad for a Hollywood marriage of that era.

Tina Louise never appeared in any of the Gilligan's Island TV movie reunions, though she's taken part in a few 'cast reunion' talk show appearances.

In the 1980's, Les Crane had great success after moving into the software industry, founding a company that made inter-active games and typing tutorials for PCs. He died in 2008, at age 74.

Today's news of Eartha Kitt's passing has helped to put a bit of a damper on this Christmas, except that it gives an opportunity to look over a few highlights of the career of this charismatic singer/actress.

Thanks Ms. Kitt, for all that you gave us.

She was 81, and remained busy through most of her long career.

Her final performance was just last month, and according to an obituary in The Independent, that Chicago appearance was taped for a PBS special about Kitt's career that is scheduled to air this upcoming Februrary.





Reading obituaries and online bios and her Wikipedia entry will give you a general overview of
Eartha Kitt's life, so what I've rounded up here are just a few additional links and images that are worth noting...


(Click on images to ENLARGE in a new window)

Lots of Eartha's music can be heard at Last.fm, including most if not all the tracks from the albums 'Miss Kitt to You', and '...in Person at the Plaza, and 'The Best of Eartha Kitt. (Follow links)

Likewise, a wealth of Eartha Kitt video clips are available at YouTube:
- Performing 'My Heart Belongs To Daddy', one of several excerpts from a 1957 live TV appearance on Nat King Cole's show.

- Film excerpts of Eartha and co-star
Sammy Davis, Jr. in the movie trailer and 'mambo fantasy' sequence from 1959's
'Anna Lucasta'.

- An odd bit of British newsreel footage from 1960; 'Eartha Kitt Keeps Fit'- - A work-out in preparation for 'Talk Of The Town', her successful London stage revue that year.




Below ▼, from Swedish television in 1962, reprising 'I Want To Be Evil', one of her biggest mid-1950's hit songs.



Like the several other 1962 clips from Sweden's 'Kaskad' program, any disconcerting elements via the in-studio lip-synching are more than made up for by creative camera angles and Ms. Kitt's stage presence.

- An infamous bit of controversy surrounded Eartha Kitt in
January, 1968 when she was one of many women invited to the White House by Lady Bird Johnson to discuss the problems of juvenile delinquency in America.

Kitt caused a stir when she spoke up and declared that American youth was rebelling against the war in Vietnam.

It was the first time that anyone had spoken out against the war at a White House function.

It upset the First Lady, and brought Eartha Kitt lots of bad press and the wrath of LBJ.

She was effectively blacklisted in the US for several years, during which time she performed abroad.

There's a good accounting of the events in a posting at the blog Undercover Black Man.
(Follow link)







Below ▼, a 1970 TV performance of 'Let's Do It'...



More video...
- A 1981 TV interview with concert footage.

- A more recent cable TV interview on the Skip E. Lowe Show, and performing
'Here's To Life' in 1992 on 'The Whoopi Goldberg Show'.

...and two text pieces:
- A 2001 interview with OutSmart magazine, and 'Still in the Limelight, on Her Own Terms', a 2006 interview from The New York Times.

Below ▼, as a club diva in 1986. The video for 'This Is My Life' includes several pieces of vintage footage from earlier in Eartha's career...

(Reposted from 'Brief Window')

Follow the link over to Flickr and take a look at slappy427's photostream for a beautiful and eclectic set of Hanna-Barbera artwork and ephemera.

(A few examples here)

Photos, memorabilia, concept art and more from nowadays and back in the day, with an emphasis on some of the more obscure characters from the animated world of
Hanna-Barbera.

Curator slappy427 is a cartoonist and avid enthusiast for all things HB, and has shared lots of truly fun images!

See also:
His blog, Hanna Barberian.

(found via Cartoon SNAP)

(Reposted from 'Brief Window')

American character actor
Paul Benedict passed away last week at his home in Martha's Vineyard. He was 70.

Though best remembered for the role of Mr. Bentley, the wacky British neighbor on the TV sitcom
'The Jeffersons' in the 1970s and '80s, his career began in the early 1960's and took him from stage to film and television, sometimes as a director.

Looking back on 'Mr. Bentley', a point of interest was how little that role showed of Benedict's range in the choices he made throughout so much of his film career.

It's always a treat to see him show up in some small part in some curious old film. If Bentley is most of what you remember of Benedict, examples of other appearances are often surprising.

See also:
- An obituary from The Los Angeles Times.

- 'Goodbye Paul Benedict, and Thank You'; a nice remembrance posted at the Film Threat Blog, that includes video clips of Benedict's performance opposite Richard Dreyfuss in Neil Simon's
'The Goodbye Girl' in 1977.

Below, ▼ some examples of Paul Benedict's other best-remembered role (at least for certain folks of a certain age); a few video clips of the recurring 'Mad Painter' segments from 'Sesame Street'.

Many of them first aired around 1972, and several featured a young Stockard Channing as co-star to Benedict.

(Reposted from 'Brief Window')

When were you planning on telling me about this?

Is this old news? 'Cuz it's a revelation to me.
Gosh, I haven't been this excited since last month's Nichols & May bonanza!

I just stumbled onto 'The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel' at YouTube.

It's a collection of Tom Lehrer performing 12 of his songs in rare video clips of a European concert taped in 1967, shortly before he retired from active performing to resume full-time teaching.

Just like so many other people of my generation, Tom Lehrer's brilliantly satirical musical comedy records were a part of my formative years, and just like so many other people, I knew most every song by heart.

But despite the familiarity of his music, much of Lehrer himself remained enigmatic.

There were no photos of Mr. Lehrer on any of his LPs, and I was just a little too young to have seen him on the U.S. version of 'That Was The Week That Was' when it aired on TV.

Seeing photos of Lehrer much later was a sort of curious experience, as I tried to reconcile his appearance with whatever hazy mental image I'd been carrying around since childhood.

Given that lack of previous visual reference, I think it's really fun and revelatory to see Lehrer actually performing in these recently-surfaced video clips.

Mostly, it's just something I never thought I'd see.

Head over to the 'The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel' and see for yourself.

Accessing the Main Playlist page will give you the option to watch all of the videos play out in sequence.

Scrolling down to the page's 'Favorites' section will also display some of the paltry few other Tom Lehrer video clips from other sources that have been floating around in recent years.

They may not be as cool as the European concert footage, but it's a blessing to have more choices.

Just a taste below; ▼ Tom Lehrer performs 'The Masochism Tango'

(Reposted from 'Brief Window')

Television personality Lloyd Thaxton passed away last Sunday. He was 81.

Thaxton was a regular fixture on television in
Los Angeles in the 1960's as host to a musical 'dance party' show along the lines of 'American Bandstand'.

'Lloyd Thaxton’s Record Shop' began airing on L.A.'s KCOP in 1959, evolving eventually into 'The Lloyd Thaxton Show'.

The hour-long program hit national syndication in 1964 and ran until 1968, featuring guest appearances by top rock & pop acts of the day.

(Below, ▼ with Solomon Burke, James Brown and The Shangri-Las)

What set Thaxton's show apart from others was his wacky and irreverent onstage antics, typified by his customary sign-off;
"The name of the show is 'The Lloyd Thaxton Show,' and my name is Lloyd Thaxton."

- - Which would receive an immediate and loud response from his teen-age studio audience - - "SO WHAT!"

Thaxton's obituary from the Los Angeles Times includes an anecdote about a fan letter he'd received;

"...A favorite quote of his was from a fan who wrote one time and said,
'When I first saw your show, I thought you were making fun of rock 'n' roll. And the more I watched, I realized you were making rock 'n' roll fun.' "

























Following the end of 'The Lloyd Thaxton Show', Thaxton went on to host game shows, and eventually moved into producing and directing for television, winning five emmy awards for his work on 'Fight Back! With David Horowitz'.

In recent years, Lloyd Thaxton's blog included news about his current doings as well as reminiscences about his show, his career, and his life.

A blog post he wrote this past May, 'The Do-It-Yourself Obit', is surprisingly upbeat, despite its current layer of poignancy...

See also:
- A rememberance at By Ken Levine